The first week of the semester has just ended and Aaron Butler, Student Association vice president for programming, is already looking at the bigger picture.

With a current budget of over $100,000, $75,000 of which is allotted to larger acts and events, Butler has already booked the mid-sized rock band Eve 6 as the main event for Spring Fling, to be held on May 2. The band performed a successful concert at Johnson City’s Magic City Music Hall in May of last year.

“They’re a really good band with a decent following,” Butler said. “I think they’ll put on a good show.”

Opening acts for the show have not been made official, but Butler said he is looking into artists such as the alternative rock band Plain White T’s or electronic artist Girl Talk.

Last semester showcased successful events like The Great Porn Debate with Ron Jeremy, and Campus Wars, but the lackluster ticket sales for the Lupe Fiasco show and the wine tour disaster are still fresh in people’s minds.

Butler is currently looking to find a larger act for the spring semester’s larger show, which he hopes to announce some time next week. While nothing is official as of yet, Butler admitted to looking for a comedian instead of a typical musical act, to appear at the end of March.

“We haven’t had a decent sized big-named comedian in a long while,” Butler said.

“We had Lewis Black and Stephen Lynch back when the seniors here were freshmen,” he said.

Following those comedy acts, in the spring of 2007 the programming board brought Jim Gaffigan to campus.

“Comedy is something that can appeal to the masses much more than a band could,” Butler said.

The Programming Board has put out a couple of bids, although they hope to book funnyman Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show.”

“If you don’t like [a certain] type of music, you’re not going to go see that [show],” he said. “But if you need to let loose and laugh, comedy is definitely something that will do that for you.”

Butler is also trying to step it up in a big way this spring by deciding to put a stronger focus on smaller events.

“Big events give us the ability to get our names out there but the smaller events is what makes the programming board so much more successful,” he said.

Smaller events allow the SAPB to actively be putting their budget to use, something that had become an issue in the past couple of years. Members of the executive board are currently required to hold three smaller events each this semester. Possible events include a trip to Turning Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y., a political lecturer and bringing the popular Discovery Channel show “MythBusters” to campus.